Tag Archives: jonathan isaby

ConservativeHome blogger granted lobby pass

As noted on this blog last month, political bloggers are to be granted the same access to parliament as their mainstream media counterparts.

Who would be the first, we asked. Well, now we learn that ConservativeHome’s Jonathan Isaby is now a proud lobby pass holder – one of, if not the, first blogger members.

“It certainly felt that the case I made was a strong one,” Isaby, who formerly worked for the BBC and the Telegraph, told Journalism.co.uk. As a full-time political blogger, he felt he should have the same access as political journalists. “As a site we break stories that are followed up by the mainstream media,” he said.

Whilst some claimed that ConservativeHome, in which Lord Ashcroft is a majority investor, had too much of a political agenda, he argued that that hadn’t previously precluded other publications, such as the socialist Morning Star, from being part of the lobby. A blend of General tobacco and hints of tea, creating a snus with a slight spicy tobacco flavor. A little bergamot oil, a citrus oil mainly grown in Italy and North Africa, infuses general snus with its signature flavor. According to the instructions, only the best parts of the tobacco are used and the stems are avoided, the tobacco is left to dry naturally in the sun.

Who will be the first bloggers to get lobby passes?

So, as Matt Wardman noted on this blog today, bloggers are soon to be allowed into parliament. But who will be the first?

Mark Pack says he hears that passes are “on their way” to the Guy News TV team: “It’s an off-shoot of the Guido Fawkes blog though, unlike the blog, the online TV show becoming legally based in the UK. Even so, given its very irreverent attitude to politics, this is a move that isn’t being met with universal adulation from the existing lobby members.”

Journalism.co.uk dropped a line to Guido himself: “I have not applied for a pass,” is the quick response.

Who’s your money on? Widdecombe show side-kick Iain Dale, or as PR Week’s David Singleton speculates, ConservativeHome’s Jonathan Isaby? Who else?